I carry around a heavy stack of paper everywhere I go. Only this is not a burden that weighs me down. The paper’s in my head.

See, I have a never-ending list of games to play these days. As soon as I play through one, I can think of another one to add. The list is always evolving and always fresh.

I noticed a recent change in this list: I stuffed it with downloadable games. And I can’t wait to sink my teeth in and devour these digital goodies.

Here’s five reasons why I only play downloadable games these days.

1. PSN, XBLA and Steam all have amazing games

I’ve played a bunch of great, exclusive games on PSN and XBLA. That includes Journey and Shadow Complex. Of course, the indie and PC exclusive games on Steam are great too. Steam, in case you don’t know, is an online store for PC games, and Valve Corporation owns and operates it.

2. Big sales on indie and PC games

Steam makes it easy to find plenty of great games. They make it even easier to buy them during their enticing sales.

3. Variety is the spice of digital life

You can download a variety of fun and creative games online. I really like platformers, or games that have platformer elements, and I don’t see this genre often on store shelves. However, I have found and enjoyed them on Steam.

4. Excel at one thing …

I like the idea of shorter games that do one thing really well. This describes a lot of downloadable games I’ve played.

5. I love short games

I like downloadable games that aren’t too long: that way I can play through a ton of them. I might then have time to play through a longer Mass Effect type game.

I’ll still play games like Mass Effect, but I’ll probably play less of them. I only really want to play one or two of these huge games a year, if at all. Smaller games will devour most of my time.

The shorter downloadable games will be like the staples of my digital diet. The bigger games will be like dessert: I’ll consume them now and then.

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7 responses to “Why I Play Downloadable Games”

I’m a Steam newcomer, yet already I’ve amassed a ton of games from the service. Seriously, those game sales are just amazing! The addiction, it’s real. Oh yes, it is. Unfortunately, the lack of time is all too real as well…hence, short games FTW!

I don’t really play a lot of downloadable games. Unless you count emulator games, because I download emulator games when I find out about a great game that I can’t buy in stores anymore. And there are a lot of those.